I love spring, its promise of life and in the Blue Heron the first real sign of spring are the salad greens from Ricky and Deb, known by many, as Seeds of Solidarity Farm. These greens are a far cry from the organic greens from California we use in the hard, frozen winter months. They are delicious with a vibrancy that pop and dance in your mouth. I love their salad greens because they are delicious, but I also love them because I know the farmers and their farm.

About a year before we opened 15 years ago, when the restaurant was still a dream, I was out walking on a hot summer’s day when I met a neighbor, Ricky Baruc. Ricky is muscular and sinewy, lean and wiry, not to tall about 5 ft 8, his handsome face well chiseled. He wears his passions in his bones. His dark hair is buzz cut and his hazel eyes intense. Sometimes he has the look of a monk and sometimes a terrorist, but he usually smells like a farmer, a mixture of soil and sweat. We did not know each other well, at the time, but we walked and talked for about an hour sharing our dreams. Ricky wanted to return to organic market farming and to the soil, selling his produce to restaurants; I wanted to open a small restaurant, “a farm to table” restaurant where I could feature Ricky’s dream produce and the great produce available in our area. Fate, or just neighbors being in the right place at the right time, I don’t know, but Ricky and his wife Deb are our friends doing their dream and Barbara and I are doing ours. We walk in each others paths and help each other as we go. Ricky and I joke that we are brother and sister from another mother, so to speak, having traveled together in past lives.

Ricky, Deb and their son Levi and their farm Seeds of Solidarity have been our primary vendor for baby salad greens, kales, chards, arugula, beet greens, mustard greens, tatsoi, tomatoes, baby turnips, garlic scapes, pea greens and various other vegetables since we opened in 1997. In April, our salads, with his greens, practically jump off the plate, after a winter of organic greens from California. Customers notice the difference immediately and we know the season has truly changed when Ricky drives up in his “French Fry oil” bio diesel truck. They provide us with all these gems from April through November.

Ricky does the farming and Deb runs the education, non profit Seeds of Solidarity Education Center. The focus of the education center is to work with disenfranchised youth, giving them skills to cultivate food and a hopeful future and their philosophy is to grow food everywhere. Deb is a strong, beautiful willful and contemplative woman who looks like an Indian or Turkish princess with olive and tanned skin and black curls down to her shoulders. Her arms and legs are muscular from years of growing a farm.

Seeds of Solidarity is the Hallelujah Chorus of biodiversity. It is surrounded by forests except from the road entrance. Upon entrance, signs begin to inform the guests of Deb and Ricky’s reverence to life, land and people. Each garden and green house is named for people and animals that have inspired, taught and given. There are two large gardens on upper fields when one first enters and guests are asked (a sign) to park and walk down the dirt drive to their home and the larger area of farming.  Nelson Mandela is the first garden name I noticed on a visit last fall. After the upper fields, the forest is on either side and there is a small brook. As I began to come into the cleared light I saw the array of fields, greenhouses and shades of growing colors.  I heard a radio or tape of a man’s voice reading or speaking and I saw legs moving back and forth in a green house covered in shade cloth, rolled up on the sides. The green houses, open at the bottom and ends allowed air and moisture to flow in and out. The legs were Ricky’s and he was watering a new bed and listening to a CD of SPEAKING the LOST LANGUAGE OF GOD Awakening the Forgotten Wisdom of Prayer, Prophecy and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I stood and watched him move back and forth preparing the beds for seed. The greenhouse was a cacophony of color, food, richness and life as the sun light filtered through. There were full rows of mustard greens abutting tatsoi next to beet greens, touching lettuces, meeting arugula, rubbing elbows with pea tendrils. It was a joyful, intensely happy green house and its name, Mahatma Gandhi. Ricky and I hugged a sweaty hug. Names of the other green houses are Cesar Chavez, Wally and Juanita Nelson (local anti war tax resistors and organic farmers fro the 60s), and Dalai Lama. The gardens are dedicated to Rachel Carson, John Lennon, Jackson and Jasper (two fine dogs), David Tate, Molly and Daisy Craig from Rabbit Proof Fence, and of course Nelson Mandela.

Ricky thinks the best teacher for farming and solar power is nature, he tells me that the cutting edge of solar science is the study of how plants photosynthesize the sun. I have no idea but he definitely knows a thing or two about solar because the farm and house are 100 percent solar.  Their house is a hand built hay bale house.

The upper fields which were in existence when they purchased the land had very good soil, the same soil that covers most of this valley but the lower fields were not so good. Ricky needed to make good soil and he did. University of Massachusetts soil testers have declared their soil some of the best anywhere. This “off the chart” rich soil was great news for Ricky and Deb, first because it meant that they could farm and secondly because it gives immense hope for simple ways to renew depleted soils. Their method for creating this absolutely no till soil is fairly simple. They use cardboard and compost

allowing the worms and microbes to do their soil magic. They open up an area for farming by covering it with organic matter (compost) and then cardboard. It takes about 6-8 months to clear and make ready for seed. He realized he could plant right through the cardboard. Although he has raised beds, his cardboard method means he does not have to continue doing raised beds as often. He is an organic farmer, but not certified.

Ricky responds to questions about his methods by saying that the soil and forests know more than we do. Gesturing toward the surrounding forest he says that the forest grows without our help. No one tills the soil and daily new organic matter is added to it by the life and death cycles of all beings in the forest. His model is ancient and radically new.

As I left on that visit, he walked me to my car. We stopped at a circular garden where a sign reads:

“We are Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews of the Diaspora on the Land of the Pequoq people. May we honor all traditions and come to realize that all life is sacred. May you go in peace.”  In this small garden is Emir Wheat (the first wheat) from the holy land, Narragansett Corn from Rhode Island (our first local flour corn) and Tobacco.

Food is rarely just calories. It’s about taste, memories, convenience, entertainment, sustenance and nourishment. These days we need as a culture to reconsider sustenance and nourishment. Food is our life force and it must be rich in nutrients to sustain us and make us strong, as individuals, communities and nations. The great part of nourishment is that it can taste great. Pick a plum, or a peach or any stone fruit. A ripe, ready to eat, still hanging on the tree plum. Pick it and bring it to your open mouth. Take that first bite. The deep reddish skin is tart, but the lush red flesh is sweet and juice runs down your chin. Now take another plum from another tree. When you bite into it, it’s not so sweet, infact it’s tart and has very little juice. It does not delight your senses. Now take a plum that has fallen on the ground, laying there for a couple of days. It feels soft, too soft and almost as soon as the first bite is taken it is spat out. Yuk, it’s rotten.

Fruits and vegetables (produce) are best when  fully developed and ripe. Our ability to taste informs us of what is good, not so good and bad for us. Nourishment can taste great.

Some fruits and vegetables can be picked before maturity and ripen in shipping or finish ripening in the market. But the very best is picked when ripe. Certainly plenty of fruits and vegetables raised thousands of miles away can taste better than poorly grown local produce. But if all is equal, I will choose local for better taste, greater nourishment and sustenance.

Taste!  There it is, the real reason. Local sustainably raised fruit and vegetables can taste incredible, like fireworks of exploding flavor.  Scientists and nutritionists can explain why, but the truth is in the taste. Good for you, good for the environment and it tastes great.

Buying locally/regionally has many other benefits, as well. When neighbors work together relationships are forged and businesses prosper. There is a reduction of carbons through transportations of goods and it strengthens regional economies as more jobs are created and a community has greater self-sufficiency and more insulation from the highs and lows of national and global markets.

The consumer has an opportunity to know his or her farmer and have a voice that is heard. They can see the farm and discuss the farmers farming practices because there is simply greater transparency.  Walk onto any farm and one is going to see equipment, fertilizer, sprayers, workers, etc. Family farmers are business people; too, they are listening to their customers and sometimes following trends.

A community that supports family farms is a community that is buying locally and creating greater food security. The consumer can demand more sustainably raised food and the availability of food is less flighty, as more and more food stays in their local   communities.

Potato Gratin Wrapped in Bacon (6-8 servings)

2 ½ pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled

1 Spanish onion, sliced thinly

1 ¼ cup grated gruyere cheese

6 ounces bacon

1 TB clarified butter

Ground pepper to taste

1. Pre heat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Butter the sides and bottom of pie pan.
3. Arrange bacon in spiral fashion covering the bottom of the pan.  The bacon should hang our over the ends.
4. Slice potatoes into thin rounds.
5. In a spiral pattern, arrange 1/3 of potatoes and then onions.
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of cheese on top.
7. Continue with remaining onions, potatoes and cheese.
8. Fold bacon over top of potatoes.
9. Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes until potatoes are fork tender
10. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Braised Duck with Green Olives (4-6 servings)

1 whole duck, cut into 8 serving pieces

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

8 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely diced

4 cups dry Riesling

2 cups high quality green olives, pitted

6 TB olive oil

3-4 TB unsalted butter

2 TB flour

1 TB finely chopped fresh thyme

1 TB finely chopped parsley

1 TB finely chopped fresh rosemary

3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in heavy skillet over medium heat.
2. Season duck with salt and pepper and place in hot oil. Do not over crowd. Brown each piece. Remove duck to a plate when all browned.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until golden brown.
4. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to make a roux.
5. Slowly stir in wine.
6. Add herbs, browned duck and olives to the pan. Add 1 tsp. of fresh ground pepper.
7. Cover pan and simmer for 20 minutes, slowly braising.
8. When duck is done, remove and place on a serving dish.
9. Skim the fat then increase the heat on the sauce and stir in cold butter. When butter is blended, salt and pepper to taste. Ladle some sauce over the duck and remaining sauce in a bowl beside duck.

Just remember, you vote with your purchase! Support local farms and food workers.

Two Quotes:

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

- JOHN MUIR

Do not wait for leaders,
do it alone, person to person.

- Mother Teresa